Not such a good day

We saddled BG on Thursday night and, after her initial stubbornness she started to straighten up and walk nicely.

Friday morning she missed her breakfast. We got up there to see them all in the top corner of the field. P1 was standing guard, BG was laying down (which we don't often get to see her do) and P2 was flat out. Ponies shouldn't lie flat out, it makes their tummies look huge. I don't know what he was dreaming about but his little legs were moving.

I got close enough to BG to hold out my hand so she could sniff it. I didn't try to get any closer as I didn't want to force her to get up. When I headed off to get her breakfast she stood up and started grazing but showed no inclination to come in for her food, so she went without as we had to vanish off to work.

This isn't us depriving her of food she needs. BG could live of just grass in the summer, in fact for most of the year. We feed her a minimal bit of Happy Hoof as a means to get contact with her and so she learns that humans can be a good thing.

Friday night I lunged her. She wasn't moving as freely in trot as she can sometimes, but she behaved herself reasonably well.

This morning we went up and she came in for her breakfast. Unfortunately, as BG put her nose in the head collar, P1 ran past the door of the field shelter and BG leapt backwards. That was it, she didn't want the head collar on after that.

This evening she was better. BG came in and had her head collar on and I put fly spray on her (there are lots of flies around at the moment). We then put the saddle on her as she waited in the field. She was very patient as we adjusted it on her back. She was back to being stubborn though when we tried to walk her on and very strong as we tried to lead her.

After leading her round she began to calm down a little. The lead rope became slack as she stopped pulling against me and she started to stop when asked, rather than me having to pull against her as she kept trying to charge forward. She was doing well until something scared her, I have no idea what but it caused her to leap forward.

Walked her round a bit more and she started to calm down again. Just as we called it a day and went to lead her back down the field something upset her again and she leapt forward. I was quite impressed she didn't break totally free, she leapt forward to the end of her lead rope and then stayed there, but I was able to keep hold of her. A bit disconcertingly I did end up stood behind her back-end as she leapt forward with the lead rope running alongside her body.

Calmed her down, led her down the field and took the saddle off. When we put the evening hay nets up I went to give her a good night hug and she moved away from me. She doesn't normally do that, I hope she isn't loosing trust in me :o(

So I say today wasn't a good day. This morning I couldn't win. I wasn't going to be able to get the head collar on her (and we had an appointment to make) so didn't really want to give her her breakfast as it would teach her she could have it without having the head collar on. At the same time she did come in for her food, so I did want to reward that, the last thing I want is her to stop coming in for her food.

Then tonight with whatever it was that scared her with the saddle I think she may have lost some faith in me. That is the last thing I want. I can only hope tomorrow goes better.